State presses case against Holcombe

Randall Holcombe listens to a previous interview between him and investigators during his racketeering trial in Pensacola on Wednesday. Holcombe is accused of participating in former Okaloosa County Sheriff Charlie Morris’ bonus kickback scheme.

PENSACOLA — Assistant State Attorney Russ Edgar attempted to use Randall Holcombe’s words and deeds against him Wednesday to prove his case for racketeering and grand theft. Edgar first presented a 2009 interview with law enforcement agents in which Holcombe made several comments later contradicted by testimony. Then he introduced an item taken from Holcombe’s Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office computer. The computer file was made Aug. 29, 2008, after Holcombe had received a $7,000 performance bonus from former Sheriff Charlie Morris and obtained $3,000 allegedly to kick back to the sheriff. Although the quality of the video was poor when it was shown at the Escambia County Courthouse, Edgar said Holcombe’s comment while counting the money was “that’s just political money for the boss man and Miss Terry.” “No reference to charity,” Edgar told the jury. Edgar contends the reference made is to Morris and Teresa Adams, his administrative assistant, who were locked up Feb. 27, 2009, for running a bonus kickback scheme. Holcombe is being tried this week on charges of racketeering and grand theft for his alleged role in the scheme. View a slideshow from the trial. Edgar has spent three days trying to prove that Holcombe, a Morris employee and confidante, was compliant with Morris and Adams in stealing thousands in taxpayer dollars. Edgar will rest his case when the trial resumes at 8:30 a.m. Thursday. Holcombe’s attorney, Wanda Clapp, then will present her client’s case. Clapp will contend Holcombe was told the money he was asked to kick back was to go to charitable causes, and he returned it because he was generous and trusted Morris. The prosecution says Holcombe received eight large performance bonuses from Morris between 2006 and 2009 and kicked back some portion of each to the sheriff. Morris — who is serving 71 months in federal prison for fraud, theft and money laundering — used the money to travel, gamble and keep a mistress. The state further alleges that Holcombe, who earned a salary of about $70,000, didn’t spend much time at the Sheriff’s Office. Edgar claims Holcombe collected inmates brought to the Sheriff’s Office to work and used them to help Morris’ wife, Barbara Morris, clean up after estate sales. The inmate labor allowed Barbara Morris to hold on to more of the commission she received from sales. Property not sold at estate sales went to the Panhandle Animal Welfare Society. Holcombe was a board member at PAWS. In the July 2009 interview heard Wednesday, state attorney’s office investigator Randy Crowder and Florida Department of Law Enforcement agent Dennis Nordstrom asked Holcombe about the estate sales. Holcombe maintained that using inmates to assist Morris’ wife was a practice he’d simply mimicked. He said former Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Phil Irish had brought inmates to estate sales before he took over. Irish was called to the stand Wednesday to refute Holcombe’s testimony. Irish said his work cleaning up after Barbara Morris’ estate sales was done on Saturdays with volunteers, including Holcombe. “Inmates weren’t accessible on Saturdays,” he testified. Under questioning in the interview, Holcombe maintained he took leave time during the week to help Barbara Morris, and he had permission from her husband to do so. However, he appeared to stumble when asked to justify picking up inmates at the Sheriff’s Office while on leave. If her questioning of prosecution witnesses provides any clue, the leave time issue will be a key component of Clapp’s defense. Morris, brought in for a second day of questioning, said he did authorize Holcombe to use inmate labor at his wife’s estate sales, but said he limited it to strictly that. “I just told him it had to be legal, whatever he was doing,” he said. Jail officials have previously testified that inmate labor cannot be used for charitable causes. Morris said at the time he gave the authorization for Holcombe to use inmate labor, he had no real leverage to prevent being taken advantage of. “I had become so indebted to him with what he’d done for the scheme, accepting the money and giving it back no questions asked,” he said. “I became so entangled I let that override whatever was proper.”   Contact Daily News Staff Writer Tom McLaughlin at 850-315-4435 or tmclaughlin@nwfdailynews.com. Follow him on Twitter @TomMnwfdn.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: State presses case against Holcombe